# Implicit Association Test



## bulbasaur (Nov 16, 2011)

Test can be taken here.

Basically, this is a test that measures how strong your previous associations between two subjects are. Indirectly, it measures how unconsciously prejudiced you are against a certain group.

I took two IAT's: sexual orientation and race. On the sexual orientation test, I had a "slight automatic preference for straight people". On the race test, I had a "moderate automatic preference for whites." :/ This was surprising, since I like to think that I'm pretty unbiased in the case of sexual orientation, and not strongly biased against Africans.

So, discuss, and feel free to share your results (or not, if you're uncomfortable).


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## M&F (Nov 16, 2011)

I've screwed most of the tests up enough that it prevented accurate results. All I did get told is that I have a slight automatic preference for young over old.


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## Minish (Nov 16, 2011)

Er, I tried to do the sexuality one but it was really silly!


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## opaltiger (Nov 16, 2011)

Apparently I have a slight preference to associate Female with Science and Male with Liberal Arts.


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## Teh Ebil Snorlax (Nov 18, 2011)

I have a strong automatic preference for Progress compared to Restore.

I have a slight automatic preference for Individual compared to Collective.

I have a moderate automatic preference for Freedom compared to Security.


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## Light (Nov 19, 2011)

I actually took these a month or so ago for my psychology class.

This is cool because they're actually recording more data that you think. For example, last time I took the sexuality test, all of the homosexual stimuli were male, and this time I took it they were all female. Unfortunately, the changes from the first results to the second results were dramatically different, going in the opposite directions, even. I'd be a bit surprised if they're not also doing this in more subtle ways. On the age preference test I noticed that a few of the faces were smiling slightly, while others were straight or even serious-looking. They could be tracking not only preference for expressions, but certain facial features!

Anyway, on the age groups test I scored highest preference for young adults, followed by middle-aged adults and old adults very close to each other and in the middle, and lastly children. I would have expected for children to score second highest or even highest, and middle aged adults last.


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## Firelord Alex (Nov 19, 2011)

I took the sexuality one and it was exhausting.  I moderately favor gay people.  I'm surprised that so many people favor straights even a little (A total of 68%).


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## Light (Nov 19, 2011)

Out of curiosity, which version did you get?


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## Coroxn (Nov 19, 2011)

So, I have a "moderate automatic preference for Light Skin compared to Dark Skin." That...I didn't think that was true.

And I have "a slight automatic preference for Gay People compared to Straight People." Which I find puzzling, seeing as I'm straight, and that the only gay people I've ever met have been online. Strange, I guess.

I have a strong preference for Progress over Restore.

I suppose your automatic responses don't really matter. What you do, and how you act, is what's important.


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## Meowth (Nov 19, 2011)

Apparently I have a strong preference for European-Americans over African-Americans, because I hesitated too much when it asked me to categorise black people's faces and positive words together D: I was confused because the rules kept changing!


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## Saith (Nov 19, 2011)

I have no idea how this thing works. It tells you you're wrong if you pick the wrong one, so it's not like it's measuring what you consider to be good or bad or whatnot. It's forcing you to pick what it's telling you top ick? And then it gives a questionnairre at the end anyway. What's the point of the first part?


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## M&F (Nov 19, 2011)

The test isn't measuring whether you _can_ associate good or bad with certain concepts, it's measuring the speed in which you do so.


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## Aisling (Nov 19, 2011)

Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for WHITE PEOPLE compared to BLACK PEOPLE. (_ouch_ please don't hate me tcod)

Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for Equal compared to Unequal.

Your data suggest no automatic association with Status Quo.

Your data suggest a strong automatic association between Self and Democrat.

Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between Novel and Familiar.

Your data suggest a moderate automatic association for 2050 with Safety and 1950 with Danger compared to 1950 with Safety and 2050 with Danger. 

As interesting as these are I have stuff to do today but I'll definitely be doing more later instead of the things I should be doing. These are fascinating


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## opaltiger (Nov 19, 2011)

Saith said:


> I have no idea how this thing works. It tells you you're wrong if you pick the wrong one, so it's not like it's measuring what you consider to be good or bad or whatnot. It's forcing you to pick what it's telling you top ick? And then it gives a questionnairre at the end anyway. What's the point of the first part?


It's measuring how often you get it wrong. The first couple of rounds are to get you used to it (so you associate, say, male with left and female with right) and then they switch the categories and see what happens.


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## bulbasaur (Nov 19, 2011)

opaltiger said:


> It's measuring how often you get it wrong. The first couple of rounds are to get you used to it (so you associate, say, male with left and female with right) and then they switch the categories and see what happens.


It measures how long you take to get the right answer as well. The more you have to consciously override your automatic response, the more time you take and, of course, the more errors you make.


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## ... (Nov 19, 2011)

"Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Gay People compared to Straight People." 

Agreed.

I plan to do more of these later. I wish they didn't take as long as they did (relatively speaking)


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## Minish (Nov 19, 2011)

Alraune said:


> As interesting as these are I have stuff to do today but I'll definitely be doing more later instead of the things I should be doing. These are fascinating


How are they fascinating?? The one I tried (sexualities) had gay on one side, straight on the other and then people with different hairstyles and clothes, which was okay, I just guessed it was trying to see whether I'd impulsively think someone in a dress and someone in trousers or something is a heterosexual couple! I was like o.o when it told me one of my answers was wrong, but then 'nasty'?? Why did it expect me to be okay with assigning 'nasty' to either gay people or straight people? I was genuinely stuck as to how I could answer that and could go no further!

Are the other tests like this?? I'm too bewildered to try any more! How did you people even finish them how could you assign random significant words to groups of people like that! Like if you associate all gay people with the word 'nasty' you have a preference for straight people? Surely you could just... work that out yourself????


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## Meowth (Nov 19, 2011)

I like how the only ethnicities are "Hispanic or Latino" or "not Hispanic or Latino", incidentally. And the fact that after I enter that I'm an athiest it asks how religious I am.

I made too many errors for it to determine whether I prefer gay or straight people. I am too incompetent to be homophobic.


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## Coroxn (Nov 19, 2011)

Cirrus said:


> Are the other tests like this?? I'm too bewildered to try any more! How did you people even finish them how could you assign random significant words to groups of people like that! Like if you associate all gay people with the word 'nasty' you have a preference for straight people? Surely you could just... work that out yourself????


The entire point is that you are supposed to assign word or symbols that come up into the correct category. First they ask you to put symbols of Homosexuality and positive words into the left column and symbols of Heterosexuality and negative words to into the right column. And you must assign these symbols or words into the correct column as fast as you can. Afterwords, negative words and positive words are now switched, so that you group positive words with Heterosexuality in the right column and negative words with Homosexuality in the left. 

Depending on how quickly it took you to assign positive/negative words to heterosexuality/homosexuality, you can see if you have an automatic reaction for grouping negative or positive words with a particular group, and thus learn your automatic feelings for that group. You may /think/ you think of them equally, but because you are asked to group as quickly as you can, your true or automatic opinions are revealed.

That's the idea, anyway.


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## M&F (Nov 19, 2011)

Cirrus said:


> How are they fascinating?? The one I tried (sexualities) had gay on one side, straight on the other and then people with different hairstyles and clothes, which was okay, I just guessed it was trying to see whether I'd impulsively think someone in a dress and someone in trousers or something is a heterosexual couple! I was like o.o when it told me one of my answers was wrong, but then 'nasty'?? Why did it expect me to be okay with assigning 'nasty' to either gay people or straight people? I was genuinely stuck as to how I could answer that and could go no further!
> 
> Are the other tests like this?? I'm too bewildered to try any more! How did you people even finish them how could you assign random significant words to groups of people like that! Like if you associate all gay people with the word 'nasty' you have a preference for straight people? Surely you could just... work that out yourself????


The idea is to see how fast you can associate words like "nasty" to certain groups. If you are automatically biased against a certain group, you will be able to do so, well, automically; if you are not, though, you will have to overcome automatic response and do the association consciously, which takes more time.


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## Minish (Nov 19, 2011)

Coroxn said:


> The entire point is that you are supposed to assign word or symbols that come up into the correct category. First they ask you to put symbols of Homosexuality and positive words into the left column and symbols of Heterosexuality and negative words to into the right column. And you must assign these symbols or words into the correct column as fast as you can. Afterwords, negative words and positive words are now switched, so that you group positive words with Heterosexuality in the right column and negative words with Homosexuality in the left.
> 
> Depending on how quickly it took you to assign positive/negative words to heterosexuality/homosexuality, you can see if you have an automatic reaction for grouping negative or positive words with a particular group, and thus learn your automatic feelings for that group. You may /think/ you think of them equally, but because you are asked to group as quickly as you can, your true or automatic opinions are revealed.
> 
> That's the idea, anyway.


! I see! That makes a lot more sense. I still don't think the tests are very great, though, but mainly because I hesitated later on because things switched sides and suddenly my fingers had to do something different! It's a cool idea, I just can't see the tests actually being of much use.

They might be fun as a motor skill game, though :D


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## Cap'n Sofa (Nov 19, 2011)

Apparently I have no significant preference for gay vs. straight and also no significant preference for European-Americans vs. African-Americans. Huh. Good.


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## Light (Nov 20, 2011)

Cirrus said:


> ! I see! That makes a lot more sense. I still don't think the tests are very great, though, but mainly because I hesitated later on because things switched sides and suddenly my fingers had to do something different! It's a cool idea, I just can't see the tests actually being of much use.


Think of it this way: if you ask anyone if they are prejudiced, what are they going to say? This test provides a way to tap into your subconcious to see what's really buried there. we are all a little biased, at least internally. you would be surprised at how long the wikipedia's list of biases is. of course the results for individuals may not always be too objective; the order the tests are presented does matter, which the website is the first to admit, and now that you mention trousers on the sexuality test i am convinced each test has a number of different versions. on the other hand, this test is useful for the testers collecting large amounts of data to gage prejudice in society as a whole.


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## Chief Zackrai (Nov 20, 2011)

i screwed up too much and got no results, too.


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## Minish (Nov 20, 2011)

エル.;557626 said:
			
		

> Think of it this way: if you ask anyone if they are prejudiced, what are they going to say? This test provides a way to tap into your subconcious to see what's really buried there. we are all a little biased, at least internally. you would be surprised at how long the wikipedia's list of biases is. of course the results for individuals may not always be too objective; the order the tests are presented does matter, which the website is the first to admit, and now that you mention trousers on the sexuality test i am convinced each test has a number of different versions. on the other hand, this test is useful for the testers collecting large amounts of data to gage prejudice in society as a whole.


Everyone is very biased about everything, because prejudices are largely society-wide internalised things! But my point is that it's not really a very useful set of tests, because I found it quite tricky to work out where the test wanted me to put my fingers next.


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